Victoria recorded 7081 new cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths. There are currently 196 coronavirus patients in Victorian hospitals. For the latest on what's making news follow our live blog: COVID19 COVID19Vic
While the Andrews government hasn’t formally announced any wholesale changes just yet, such a move would represent the next step in shifting towards a reliance on rapid antigen tests.Some people are concerned by the possibility of state governments dropping their dual-testing regimes given the possibility of a new coronavirus variant or cases rising over the cooler months.
“What we’re seeing [now] is a re-group. A strategic shift. That sort of strategic thinking will continue moving forward. But it’s not, ‘Oh, we’re withdrawing all testing from COVID’ or ‘We don’t care about it anymore.’”Broede Carmody “This is my third day in Lismore ... and every single person I speak to, the first thing they say to me is, where is the government?” he told the ABC’s“They have felt completely abandoned during the crisis itself. And now they feel completely abandoned in the job of cleaning up and recovering. I haven’t seen a single federal minister on the ground while I’ve been here. I haven’t seen a single federal official on the ground to coordinate things.